City Plan May Solve Old Woes

Out with the old and in with the new.

If all goes as planned, City Section schools in the region will be starting athletic rivalries in new league alignments in 1998 and saying goodbye to some of the old.

City Section officials want to change the current alignment--six two-league conferences--which has caused more problems than it has solved in the past 10 years. For most of that time, teams were in a predetermined division (4-A or 3-A) based on their league affiliation, with no regard to strength of athletic programs.

That will no longer be the case if the Interscholastic Athletic Committee, the governing body of the City Section, approves the releaguing committee’s current proposal in September for implementation in the 1998-99 school year.

A shake-up of the section’s 49 high schools and 13 magnet schools is long overdue, no question. But while some coaches are encouraged by the suggested proposal, others feel they have drawn the short straw.

Not everyone is going to be happy about where they fit in, but that’s to be expected, City Section Commissioner Barbara Fiege said.

“There is not a plan that is going to be perfect for everybody,” Fiege said. “Change is always difficult, but it’s a step in the right direction.”

Most would agree that it is one giant step.

“I think this conference thing was ridiculous,” said Howie Levine, boys’ basketball coach at Grant.

The current conference alignments have caused confusion and frustration among coaches and playoff seeding committees for a decade. Several times a year, coaches will report their teams’ results and insist that conference records are of no importance and only league records count. Wrong. But who can blame them for not understanding the two-league conference system? It’s a mess.

Another flaw with the current format is in the Southeastern Conference, which has nine teams compared to eight in the other five conferences. Southeastern Conference coaches and officials have requested relief from that scheduling hindrance for years.

On the recommendation of the IAC, which hopes to eliminate some of the confusion, a releaguing committee was formed in October to review the current structure of the six conferences. The releaguing committee has been studying different realignment proposals for six months and believes it has come up with a winner (see illustration), with leagues to be named later.

The goal of the committee is to group schools with regard to--in order of importance--geography, preservation of rivalries, and equity within a league. Obviously, achieving parity in every sport will be difficult given that criteria.

For example, in League 9, can Canoga Park, with one of the smallest enrollments in the section (about 1,400 students), compete against Birmingham, Chatsworth, Cleveland, El Camino Real and Taft on a year-to-year basis?

Moreover, can anyone guess which football team will be running the table in this league? Birmingham, Chatsworth, Cleveland and Canoga Park have been 3-A schools for a long time. Taft was the 4-A runner-up last season.

Sylmar, with 53 consecutive conference victories--one shy of the state record--will no longer zip through football season with the greatest of ease.

The new alignment has the Spartans moving into League 8 with Kennedy and San Fernando, two of the region’s other successful programs.

But Sylmar Coach Jeff Engilman couldn’t be happier.

“That’s what I wanted,” Engilman said. “If you can get out of [league play] healthy, it makes you a better football team.”

That opinion is shared by Canoga Park boys’ basketball Coach Ralph Turner, whose Hunters would play highly competitive Chatsworth and Cleveland twice a year.

“I would rather play a tougher schedule [than the Valley Pac-8 Conference],” Turner said. “It prepares us more for what we’re gonna see [in the playoffs].”

But not all coaches in the Valley are feeling warm and fuzzy about the proposal.

“I hate it,” Poly baseball Coach Chuck Schwal said.

The new alignment breaks up the Sylmar-Poly rivalry, which has been a crowd pleaser for decades. Instead, Poly falls into what appears to be the weakest league in the Valley and doesn’t get a worthy replacement for Sylmar.

“I love playing Gary [Donatella’s] teams. Those are always great games,” said Schwal, referring to his Sylmar counterpart. “We’re all gonna miss that one.”

Granted, North Hollywood is solid this year and will play Poly in the new league, but the Huskies have a history of being a league doormat in baseball.

Schwal is also concerned that the new alignment cuts Poly’s revenue potential in all sports.

“I think it’s unfair,” he said. “[The other leagues] are gonna have big games and draw big crowds.”

Poly, which starts four sophomores and a freshman, has a solid, established program and a bright future.

“Now my good, young team has to play in a weak league,” Schwal said.

Meanwhile, the North Hollywood girls’ basketball team, which has won 47 consecutive conference games since 1992 under Coach Rich Allen, has dominated the Valley Pac-8. By the looks of the new proposal, not much will change.

“Oh, it’s even weaker,” Allen said.

But Allen isn’t as upset about it as Schwal. Allen knows somebody has to take the fall.

“How can you make 49 schools happy?” he said.

Fiege figures that six-team leagues--with the exception of League 3, which will have seven teams to solve the obvious mathematical problem--is much more manageable and efficient.

“It takes care of most of the problems and concerns that have been expressed by the schools,” Fiege said.

Before the proposal is presented to the IAC in June, the releaguing committee will continue to work out the kinks.

A public meeting to express opinions will be held May 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the Board of Education Building at 450 North Grand.

Speak up now, or forever hold it . . . for at least four years when it comes up again for review.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

CITY SECTION RELEAGUING PROPOSAL FOR 1998-99

League No. 1

Bell

Garfield

Huntington Park

Jordan

Roosevelt

South Gate

League No. 2

Fairfax

Hamilton

Palisades

University

Venice

Westchester

League No. 3

Banning

Carson

Gardena

Locke

Narbonne

San Pedro

Washington

League No. 4

Belmont

Eagle Rock

Franklin

Lincoln

Marshall

Wilson

League No. 5

Crenshaw

Dorsey

Fremont

Jefferson

Los Angeles

Manual Arts

League No. 6

Bravo Medical

Downtown Business

Elizabeth St. Learning Center

Foshay Learning Center

King-Drew Medical

Los Angeles CES

Marlton

Mid-City Alternative

Middle College

Sherman Oaks CES

USC MAST

Valley Alternative

Westside Alternative

League No. 7

Grant

Hollywood

North Hollywood

Poly

Reseda

Verdugo Hills

League No. 8

Granada Hills

Kennedy

Monroe

Van Nuys

San Fernando

Sylmar

League No. 9

Birmingham

Canoga Park

Chatsworth

Cleveland

El Camino Real

Taft